Editor's review

A browser for the Video web, search, watch and download all the videos that you need from Youtube, Google Video, Yahoo Video and more.

Pros: As its name suggests this is an explorer (i.e. a browser) for tube type applications. The word “Tube” used to be shorthand to describe a TV set but now has grown to include any type of video content, especially video content on the Web (think Youtube). The Tube Explorer is a tool that has been designed to enable users to browse, search, and download videos from Youtube, Yahoo! Video, Google Video, MetaCafe, DailyMotion and many many more. It also gives you the ability to save the downloaded videos in a host of formats including 3GP, 3GPP2, MP4, MP3, WMV, AVI, DVD and more. It also allows you to convert between these formats. Additionally it allows you to split a given video into smaller videos and join smaller video fragments into larger files. Batch downloads can be initiated with just a single click.

Although the interface needs improvement it conveniently displays videos from different websites in different folders, in a folder pane. Showing easy to see screen-captures in the main browsing pane and has its own player on the lower left which is a big convenience for people who don’t like to have other player’s loading time slowing them down. The downloaded video manager is a one stop shop for managing the downloaded video content (i.e. copy, move, sort etc.).

Cons: The main limitation is that the interface is a little unattractive. Although one gets used to it over time, it needs sufficient improvement before users who like a certain look and feel to start using it full-time (especially in the Vista era).

Overall: 4 stars. Great idea and it works.

Publisher's description

Tube Explorer Lite is a freeware that makes it easy for you to search, browse, download, and convert videos from YouTube, Yahoo video and Google video.
With Tube Explorer's unique built-in video browser, you can quickly and efficiently search and browse videos from all of the popular video sites. With the Metasearch feature, you can enter search criteria once and search video from multiple sites, Tube Explorer will aggregates the results into a single list for easily browsing.
Simply gather your favorite videos from all of your favorite sites, and watch them online later. In addition, you can batch download multiple videos with a single click. Once they're on your hard drive, it's easy to sort, copy, move your videos.
Tube Explorer is fully customizable, to fit your tastes. You'll have quick access to tools and customization features. Create custom screen layouts, and design the toolbar and menubar to suit your preferences.